It has been suggested to provide vehicle entry illumination system means whereby illumination is provided at the vehicular entry door locks thereby better enabling the location of such door lock in the night time and facilitating the insertion thereinto of an associated key.
Generally, such systems employ a light or illumination source in relatively close proximity to the lock tumbler mechanism with related electrical energizing and logic control circuit means situated within the passenger compartment as, for example, underneath the vehicle dash panel.
The prior art realized that the overall electrical system would have to be separated into various sections and that certain of such sections would comprise a separable wiring harness which could be separately assembled into the vehicle door and subsequently electrically connected to the remaining energizing and control circuit portions.
Since substantially all vehicles now operate with 12 volt electrical systems and since the bulbs being employed for creating the illumination required a smaller voltage as, for example, 2.0 volts suitable dropping resistor means were required within the output portion of the circuitry leading and connectable to the wiring harness installed in the door.
During mass production of automotive vehicles, components thereof must be tested prior to assembly in order to make sure that such components are operative and to avoid the high cost of disassembly and replacement of defective components. Likewise, the wiring harness and bulb means, with which this invention is concerned, were and are required to undergo testing prior to installation thereof within the vehicle door assembly.
As was previously stated, substantially all automotive vehicles employ 12.0 volt electrical systems; therefore, the testing equipment employed by such vehicle manufacturers is also 12.0 volt and, in order to standardize and eliminate the possibility that an employee will use the wrong testing apparatus, all such apparatus is not modified to test at any other voltage than 12.0 volts. Accordingly, the vehicle manufacturer, in effect, had no way of checking such wiring harness before their assembly into the vehicle door because the testing thereof with standard 12.0 volt testing equipment would destroy the lamp or bulb means carried by the wiring harness.
It was then discovered and suggested that the dropping resistor means, normally not associated with the wiring harness in the door and actually carried by and forming a part of the power output circuit portion within the interior of the vehicle, actually be placed in circuit with the conductors forming the said door wiring harness thereby enabling the said door wiring harness to be tested by any standard 12.0 volt testing equipment and still be able to plug into the related power output circuit portion. This not being believed possible by those skilled in the art, the invention now provides structure whereby such can be attained.